Bizzare Plumbing issue.

[Onetap]

Thanks for the advise, unfortunately I've got a combi boiler so there's no water storage tank

Oh, sorry, I should have read more and wrote less.

It is probably still a blockage in pipes, as you've worked out. I'd start dismantling, working back from the taps, and connecting a hose to flush the pipework through, which would locate the blockage or show whether it was upstream or downstream.

 

[SimonH2]

Main Bathroom - no pressure at all, barely a trickle which I can actually stop when I place my finger on the tap.

That's the confusing thing. If it was a blockage/shut valve/whatever slowing the water to a trickle, then you'd have full pressure if you tried to stop it with your finger.

 

[sicca]

Main Bathroom - no pressure at all, barely a trickle which I can actually stop when I place my finger on the tap.

That's the confusing thing. If it was a blockage/shut valve/whatever slowing the water to a trickle, then you'd have full pressure if you tried to stop it with your finger.

Hi Guys,

I actually had a plumber coming round last evening and he spent almost 2 hours trying to find the cause but couldn't. He said that in 20 years of plumbing he hasn't seen anything like it (told you it was bizarre).

The fix would be to run a new HW pipe and bypass the length that we believe is blocked in some shape or form.

He'll be sending a quote in for the work but at £40 per hour just labour costs, I think it will be an expensive job.
At least I can buy the materials so he won’t charge me extra for those.

Thanks

Sicca

 

[breadnbutter]

i bet its blocked whith floorboard wood chippings. re-run pipe

 

[Nige F]

Reading - that`s North of Godstone . I get lost farther than that but @ £40 an hour on the job I might make up the travel and petrol . If I did the job I`d turn up with a few lengths of plastic pipe and fittings - then cut into the suspect pipe in 2 accesible places . Do a temporary bypass through the plastic pipe running over the floors etc.- if it works , renew the offending section in copper . Just in case it`s something other that the suspect pipe - this is something a competent diy` er could do

 

[sicca]

Reading - that`s North of Godstone . I get lost farther than that but @ £40 an hour on the job I might make up the travel and petrol . If I did the job I`d turn up with a few lengths of plastic pipe and fittings - then cut into the suspect pipe in 2 accesible places . Do a temporary bypass through the plastic pipe running over the floors etc.- if it works , renew the offending section in copper . Just in case it`s something other that the suspect pipe - this is something a competent diy` er could do

Hi,

That's the problem, in all the visible locations I believe that the pipe is fine , unfurtunately it also goes behind a partition wall which is tiled and I'm not very keen to take this down as it might be more expensive to put right than the actual plumber would charge. This is why I would rather just to re run the pipe, I know it's a pain but it's been already a week since we've moved in and I'm fed up showering every morning at my friends house

 

[sicca]

Hi All,
Finally realised that a plumber would be too expensive and decided to tackle the job on my own.

I have cut the pipe in the cloakroom and downstairs in the bathroom and managed to pull it up trough the partition wall. Dropped a new pipe downstairs trough the wall again and fixed it to the existing pipe work downstairs with a pressure coupler. In the cloakroom I have soldered two square connectors so the pipe drops neatly downstairs. Fitted another pressure connector and joined it to the pipe in the cloakroom. For all this the bath had to come out and this was basically the bulk of the job.
Now I have plenty of hot water downstairs and a happy wife.
The surprise:

I took the old pipe and started cutting it in 3 inch sections. Eventually I reached the middle where there was a soldered join. Here I found that the pipe has been completely blocked by lime scale for a section of about 6 inches. This must have been here for ages as it’s as hard as concrete, tried to get some of it out with a screwdriver and hammer and couldn’t so

I would imagine that the previous occupiers didn’t shower much.
For anyone who’s got a similar problem, don’t be afraid to tackle this on your own as it’s not as difficult as it seems.
In the end everything came down to under £40 which beats any plumber quote.
Thanks for all the good advice.

Sicca

 

[Nige F]

Exellent result - and well done . Strange thing is it`s unusual for it to just occur in one place like that -

 

[Onetap]

Exellent result - and well done . Strange thing is it`s unusual for it to just occur in one place like that -

Yes, well done, thanks for the feedback. I'd never have expected a limescale plug like that; maybe it was an old heating cold feed pipe that was reused.

 

[SimonH2]

I find myself wondering if limescale remover would have cleared it, but the problem - when I actually think about the practicalities - would be getting it to only that pipe. Ie not diluting it with the contents of the header tank and DHW cylinder.

Obviously you'd not want to be filling your bath with it